Shinninggoldenstar: Hello everyone

Entire Cast: IT HAS BEEN OVER TWO YEARS!

Shinninggoldenstar: I know, I know…please don't hurt me. A lot of stuff happened in my personal life in 2018 and 2019 then 2020 hit and despite everything, I finally got my mojo back and it evaporated when I couldn't find any of the drafts I had written for the remaining chapters.

Kyoko: That is so sad, I remember when I was having a hard time becoming the characters I had to be for Angel and Mio. That is a horrible dark hole.

Shinninggoldenstar: …Should anything happen to you, I shall hunt down the one responsible and make him or her wish they were never born.

Ren: For once, I agree with you.

Shinninggoldenstar Anyway, I have also something special planned for all of you for your patience. As always, I do not own any version of Beauty and the Beast(save this one) or Skip Beat. Please don't sue me.

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"As Prince Toyonari had no son, he adopted a younger son of one of the Court nobles to be his heir, and to marry his daughter Hase-Hime, and in a few years, the marriage took place. Hase-Hime lived to a good old age, and all said that she was the wisest, most devout, and most beautiful mistress that had ever reigned in Prince Toyonari's ancient house. " Kyoko read out loud to a room filled with various objects in front of her.

Beside her was Ren, who was seated in his favorite chair, leaning toward her with his head propped on an arm, focused on every word she spoke.

"That was a wonderful story, big sister." Maria sighed from beside Shoko and Hiro.

"It would have been better if Hase-Hime and the prince fell passionately in love and then married" Lori muttered.

At the mention of the word "Love," all the peace and serenity on Kyko's face evaporated almost instantly, replaced with the darkest look that anyone had seen. Even Ren was unsettled by it.

"That would have been a horrible ending" she grumbled "Bad enough she got married, but at least she wasn't wasting away from love"

At this, everyone in the room, save for the two youngest, stiffened.

"Maria, Hiro it is almost time for your grammar lesson, go to your room," their governess told them.

"But I want to stay with big sister!"

"Now Maria," the teapot told her sternly.

As soon as the children were out of hearing range, Shoko turned to Kyoko.

"Isn't it wonderful to be in love, to share happiness with someone?" she inquired worryingly.

"Wonderful? Would you the heavens 'wonderful', would you call the wonders of the world 'wonderful'" Lory exclaimed. "Love is the most magnificent thing in the world, no, in all of creation. It is the force that rivals time and space. Everything else is but a dim star in the baring light that is the sun of love!"

Any other time, everyone would have rolled their eyes at Lory's daily monologue regarding love, but all eyes were on Kyoko, who did not seem to notice.

"All love does is make you stupid. You do stupid things in the name of love and by the time you realize that you have become stupid, the one who caused your stupidity has beaten and broken you down beyond repair"

A tear slid down her cheek.

" And I don't want to be stupid ever again" she cried, more tears falling from her eyes before she dashed out of the room.

Everyone was stunned.

Lory looked more distraught over the idea someone hated the idea of love than the thought of being a candlestick for all eternity.

Shoko had a look of pure terror on her face, no doubt envisioning spending the rest of her life as a piece of china.

Yoshiro had an expression mirroring that of a captain about to watch his beloved ship beneath the waves during a violent storm.

However, one had a very different reaction from everyone else.

A dark look had fallen over Ren's face, his eyes filled with more fury than when the curse began.

"I don't want to be stupid ever again"

She had been in love before

"don't want to be stupid ever again"

But she wasn't now

"to be stupid ever again"

And she didn't want to fall in love again

"beaten and broken you down beyond repair"

Because someone hurt her

"broken … down beyond repair"

Some used her

"beyond repair"

A paw somehow had become a fist at his side without him realizing it.

At that moment, he forgot all about the curse, all about why he wanted her to be his prisoner in the first place. All he wanted, was to take the memories of whoever it was that dared to destroy her heart and replace it, with something that would make her smile. "Preferably after I find the son of gun who did that to her and show him what a real monster is." He growled, just softly enough so no one else could hear him.

"Lory," he barked, back turned to his servants. "How long will it take for you and the others to organize and prepare a party fit for a princess?"

Lory smiled knowingly "It could be ready in two days. However, if you want it to be extra special, wait three days."

For a moment Ren was confused by what Lory meant before he realized what day it would be.

He smiled back at the chandler. "I am counting on you"

Meanwhile, Kyoko was huddled on her bed, knees were drawn in close with her arms hugging her legs for comfort.

Thinking about that guy.

"No" she muttered crossly "I promised Moko and Chiori I would not give him the joy of my tears"

This time a tear did slide down her cheek, but not due to the man who had used her so long ago.

Her tear was for the only girls she could ever truly call her friends… whom she would never see again.

"I wonder how Moko and Chiori are doing." She murmured to herself. "I hope they are doing OK."

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Kanae groaned to herself as she pushed herself off the hard earth with both hands. Ordinarily, she would have been furious to be covered from head to toe in dirt, leaves, twig, and anything else the earth had thrown at her. "What am I doing here" she grumbled Her head seemed to be two or three times heavier than she remembered, and everything seemed so hot, was it summer? No, it couldn't be summer, she was shivering too much for it to be summer.

Not too far from her Chiori was also stirring on the ground. Moaning slightly, she placed a hand to her throbbing heading. Muscles which normally gave her few problems, even with all the farm work, felt heavy and she was reluctant to move and more than she had to.

"What happe…" Chiori began to ask, mostly to herself, when images flashed through her brain. The fair, the wolves, the monster…. THE MONSTER, KYOKO! 'THAT THING HAS KYOKO!" She screamed before flinching slightly at the cannonballs going off in her head. Kanae bolted to her feet, before slaying slightly falling upon a tree for support. Gritting her teeth, she glared at nothing in particular.

"MO! That idiot never listens" she snarled. "Why didn't that fool run when we told her too?!"

Chiori sent an annoyed look at her, or at least she tried to. "Darn it, I'm dizzy." She thought, with a hand to her head before replying. "This is Kyoko we are talking about… she once traveled three days straight one way, on foot, just to get that tea you wanted to try for your birthday…. And you only mentioned it once on a whim… 4 months prior!. You've known her longer than I have, does this sort of thing surprise you?!"

"No, I just hoped that seeing that thing would cause instant to overcome her usually stupidity! "

"Well, what do we do now?! Kyoko doesn't stand a chance against that thing and we can barely stand!"

"Unforchantly, there is only one place in town where we can find the type of people we need gather in one place."

Chiori grimaced, she knew exactly where and more importantly, who, Kanae was talking about.

"Kyoko will never forgive us if we ask him for help," she told her friend.

"That fool should have thought of that before she made a promise to a monster!"

The redhead tried to think a retort, but couldn't. They needed help and that guy was the only one with physical and social power needed for a rescue party.

"Let us go, I can see a road from here, perhaps we will be lucky enough to find someone with a wagon who will give us a trip to town"

Kanae nodded in agreement and the two young women set off to the road, feeling slightly less dizzy, but still worse for wear. Despite that, they could not help but notice the patches of snow on the ground.

"Just how long have we been asleep" they wondered, almost simultaneously, completely unaware of a lone figure watching them depart.

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Note

The story Kyoko was reading from the ending of the traditional Japanese fairy

Tale 'The Story of Princess Hase' found at "The Story of Princess Hase | Yei Theodora Ozaki ( )" I chose this story because it reminded me so much of Kyoko. A girl who received little maternal love, gifted beyond imagining with the art and embroidery(seriously does anyone remember how she was able to make those curse dolls in under 5 minutes with accuracy the rest of us mere mortals could never hope to achieve.) and an amazing work ethic. I could go on. Now just change the princess to being adopted into the prince's family and we have an ancient version of Kyoko!